SKILLMAN, N.J. -
After a busy fall season, The University of Texas at Tyler tennis teams
found themselves all over the first set of national and regional
rankings released by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association for the
2008-2009 season.

Both
UT Tyler teams were ranked in the national and regional polls, while
nine Patriots were ranked as singles, doubles or both.

In the
women’s rankings, the Patriots came in at 29th as a team nationally and
fifth regionally.

Senior
Beth Launius (LaGrange, Texas) and sophomore Michelle Hagler (Austin,
Texas) will enter the 2009 season as the No. 2 team in the West Region.
The duo won the ITA Southwest Regional earlier this year and went on to
finish sixth in the Division III portion of the Small College National
Championships.

Launius
and Hagler were joined on the regional rankings by another Patriot duo,
that of junior Brittany Ude (Corpus Christi, Texas) and sophomore
Lauren Giovannini (Dallas, Texas), who came in at 11th. Individually,
Giovannini broke into the regional rankings at 21st.

On the
men’s side, the Patriots were ranked as the 21st best team in the
nation and the sixth best team in the region. Sophomore Robert Sajovich
(Austin, Texas) was the lone representative for the men on the National
singles rankings, coming in at 19th.

Regionally,
Sajovich was ranked fifth as a singles player, while senior Dustin
Phillips (Houston, Texas) finished just three spots behind Sajovich at
eighth. Junior David Ashlock (Arlington, Texas) rounded out the three
Patriots on the region singles list at 18th.

In the
doubles rankings, Phillips and Ashlock came in at seventh, while
Sajovich and his partner, freshman Andrew Reznik (Southlake, Texas),
were ranked 13th.

Both
Patriot squads will kick off the 2009 season in a big way on February
14, by hosting a combined five matches at the Summers Tennis Center.

Both
teams open their 2009 campaigns by taking on American Southwest
Conference West Division foe, Schreiner, at 9:00 a.m.

The
women will finish their day by facing off against Ouachita Baptist at
1:30 p.m., followed by Henderson St., at 6:00 p.m. The men will take on
Southeastern Oklahoma between the two women’s matches at 4:30 p.m.